Electromagnetic Acoustic

Transducers (EMATs)

Ultrasonic Non DestructiveMethod

Non-contact because the sound is directly generated within the material
adjacent to the transducer
High temperature capabilities (1200F), use in hot, cold, dry environments
Easy to automate and integrate in production due to couplant free feature
Valid for steel, Aluminum and other metallic materials
Lorentz force excites waves in non-ferrous metals
Magnetostriction generates waves in ferrous metals
Generates SH bulk wave, lamb wave, guided waves and surface waves

Electromagnetic-acoustic transducers (EMAT) are a modern

type of ultrasonic transducers which do not need couplant.
When a wire is placed near the surface of an electrically
conducting object and is driven by a current at the desired
ultrasonic frequency, eddy currents will be induced in a near
surface region of the object. If a static magnetic field is also
present, these eddy currents will experience forces called
Lorentz forces which will cause pressure waves to be
generated at the surface and propagate through the material.

Elero Magnetic Acoustic Transducer(EMAT)

Allows ultrasonic Inspection without the need of a liquid coupling .
EMATs can be designed to fit almost any diameter pipe

I
Ie

SB

Key Features:

non-contact/no couplant

A current, I, in a wire near a metal surface

induces an equal and opposite eddy current, I e
in the surface of the metal.

When the eddy current occurs in a magnetic field a

force is created in the metallic surface.

F=IxB

This force can generate elastic waves, ie. ultrasonic

Guided Waves

multiple wave modes (including SH)

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

easy automation

low sensitivity

high speed scanning

requires special electronics

high reproducibility

high-temperature inspection

material dependent

minimal wear,less surface preparation required

easy to customize

Normal-Beam EMATs
spiral coil
radially polarized shear wave

rectangular coil
linearly polarized shear wave

N
N

B0

B0

symmetric coil
longitudinal wave

B0 N

EMATs are Versatile

Surface Waves: Rayleigh
Wave
Surface SH waves
Angle Beam waves: SH or
SV
Through Thickness Shear
Waves and L Waves

SH
SV

EMAT are Exceptional for Guided Waves

SHn

Shear
Horizontal

Propagation

Sn
Symmetric

Propagation

An
Antisymmetric Propagation

Sensitive to Plate Thickness

There are many different kinds
of Plate Waves

These depend on the displacement

through the plate thickness

Often called Plate Waves

EMATs are great for SH waves

Different types of sound waves (longitudinal, shear,

lamb) can be generated using EMATs by varying the
configuration of the transducer such that the
orientation of the static magnetic field is changed.

As an emerging ultrasonic testing

technique, EMAT can be used for

(UT)

thickness measurement,
flaw detection,
material property characterization.
EMAT has found its applications in many
industries such as primary metal manufacturing
and processing, automotive, railroad, pipeline,
boiler and pressure vessel industries

BASIC COMPONENTS IN A EMAT

There are two basic components in an EMAT transducer.
1. magnet
2. An electric coil.
The magnet can be a permanent magnet or an electromagnet,
which produces a static magnetic field. The electric coil is
driven with an alternating current (AC) electric signal at
ultrasonic frequency, typically in the range from 20 kHz to
10 MHz. The electric coil with AC current also generates an AC
magnetic field. When the test material is close to the EMAT,
ultrasonic waves are generated in the test material through the
interaction of the two magnetic fields

Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers

(EMATs)
Key Features:

non-contact/no couplant

multiple wave modes (including SH)

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

easy automation
low sensitivity
high speed scanning
requires special electronics
high reproducibility
high-temperature inspection
material dependent
minimal wear
less surface preparation required
easy to customize

EMAT Principles or
Generation Mechanism
1. LORENTZ FORCE when the material is conductive
2. MAGNETOSTRICTIVE When the material is ferromagnetic

Principle #1: Lorentz Force- due to the interaction between the eddy
current and the magnetic flux density
F Q (E v B )

Lorentz force:

H J

Ampre's law:

B
E
t

Faraday's law:

J E

Ohms law:

Transmission (I F)
B0

Ip
Hp

Je

He
conducting medium
Reception (v V):
B0

V
v

F
Je

Je

Principle #2: Magnetization-due to interaction

between magnetic field and magnetization
electromagnet

specimen

Fm

y
0 V dH 2
dH
Fm 0 V M

dy
2 dy

magnetic force

permeability of free space

volume

magnetization

magnetic field

height

magnetic susceptibility

strong bias

Signal

Time

excitation current

Signal

some bias
Signal

no bias

Fm

Time

magnetization force

Time

Principle #3: Magnetostriction-caused

by peizeo magnetic effect
Spontaneous magnetostriction:
10

1,2,3

e
3

Induced magnetostriction:

Magnetostriction [10-6]

H=0

low-carbon steel

Fe

-10

Co

-20
-30

Ni

-40
0
1

2e
e
2,3 1
3
2
3

2
4
4
Magnetic Field [10 A/m]

EMAT Instrumentation

Normal-Beam EMATs coil configuration

spiral coil
radially polarized shear wave

rectangular coil-meander
linearly polarized shear wave

N
N

B0

B0

symmetric coil
longitudinal wave

B0 N

Angle-Beam Shear EMATs

meander coil
vertically polarized shear wave

periodic permanent magnet

horizontally polarized shear wave

B0

B0

S
N

sin

EMAT Electronics
EMATs with
permanent or
electromagnets
matching
network

matching
network
specimen

7-turn, 10-mm-diameter spiral coil on ferritic steel

Impedance []

oscillator

driver
amplifier

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

resistance
reactance

0.5

1
1.5
2
Frequency [MHz]

2.5

+
_

Vs

EMAT Applications

Texture Assessment by EMATs

cold-pressed 2024 aluminum, 1.4 MHz, EMAT

transmitter

receiver

Rayleigh
wave

Textured Specimen

cavg = 2,850 m/s, 0.2% per division, = (cmax cmin)/cavg

0% (annealed)

= 0.45 %

= 0.8 %

= 1.6 %

High-Temperature Monitoring
SiC/Ti-6Al-4V composite
(Ogi et al., 2001)

60

230

190
170

C44

50
Stiffness [GPa]

210
Stiffness [GPa]

55

C11

C33

45
40

C66

35
30

150

25
20

130
200

400

600
800
Temperature [K]

1000

200

400

600
800
Temperature [K]

1000

Electromagnetic Acoustic Resonance

(Hirao and Ogi et al., 2003)
SCM 440 steel
-1.0

as-received
quenched & tempered
annealed

load
unload
Birefringence [%]

Birefringence [%]

0.05

pure titanium

-0.05

-0.10
0

50
100
Stress [MPa]

couplant

150

-1.1

-1.2
-120

-80
-40
Stress [MPa]

PZT

EMAT

specimen

specimen

Thickness measurement for various applications

Flaw detection in steel products
Plate lamination defect inspection
Bonded structure lamination detection
Laser weld inspection for automotive components
Various weld inspection for coil join, tubes and pipes.
Pipeline in-service inspection.
Railroad and wheel inspection
Austenitic weld inspection for power industry
Material characterization

Challenges and Disadvantages

The disadvantages of EMAT compared to piezoelectric UT can be
summaried as follows:
Low transduction efficiency. EMAT transducers typically produce raw
signal of lower power than piezoelectric transducers. As a result, more
sophisticated signal processing techniques are needed to isolate signal
from noise.
Limited to metallic or magnetic products. NDT of plastic and ceramic
material is not suitable or at least not convenient using EMAT.
Size constraints. Although there are EMAT transducers as small as a
penny, commonly used transducers are large in size. Low-profile EMAT
problems are still under research and development. Due to the size
constraints, EMAT phased array is also difficult to be made from very
small elements.
Caution must be taken when handling magnets around steel products.

Advantages
Compared to piezoelectric transducers, EMAT probes have the following advantages:
No couplant is needed. Based on the transduction mechanism of EMAT, couplant is not
required. This makes EMAT ideal for inspections at temperatures below the freezing point and
above the evaporation point of liquid couplants. It also makes it convenient for situations where
couplant handling would be impractical.
EMAT is a non-contact method. Although proximity is preferred, a physical contact between
the transducer and the specimen under test is not required.
Dry Inspection. Since no couplant is needed, the EMAT inspection can be performed in a dry
environment.
Less sensitive to surface condition. With contact-based piezoelectric transducers, the test
surface has to be machined smoothly to ensure coupling. Using EMAT, the requirements to
surface smoothness are less stringent; the only requirement is to remove loose scale and the like.
Easier for sensor deployment. Using piezoelectric transducer, the wave propagation angle in
the test part is affected by Snells law. As a result, a small variation in sensor deployment may
cause a significant change in the refracted angle.
Easier to generate SH-type waves. Using piezoelectric transducers, SH wave is difficult to
couple to the test part. EMAT provide a convenient means of generating SH bulk wave and SH
guided waves.